With the population of Indian, Pakistani and Caribbean immigrants growing fast in Canada, the North American nation could soon have its own version of an Indian Premier League (IPL)-style T20 cricket.

Indian-origin Toronto businessman Roy Singh, who has interests in gold exploration in Guyana, says his mission is to launch the Canadian Premier League.

"I have watched the huge success of the Indian Premier League and we can do the same in Canada and the US," said Singh, who has already set up the Canadian Premier League T20 to set the ball rolling for T20 cricket in this country.

In fact, he did a test run in Montreal for the proposed Canadian Premier League some time ago.

The only thing coming in the way is the lack of infrastructure for cricket, he said.

To address this problem, Singh has undertaken to build an indoor stadium near the Niagara Falls.

"We are buying 153 acres of land for building the indoor stadium. It is just eight minutes from Niagara Falls. It is a big-budget venue," he said.

The fully operational Canadian Premier League will have 27 matches every season. "We will have 10 teams in two divisions."

Singh said: "As a cricket-loving businessman, I see a big business opportunity in T20 cricket. But a lot of costs are involved... you need a stadium to bring fans and start broadcasting."

Like the IPL, the Canadian Premier League will bank on sponsorships, merchandising, gate collections and broadcasting rights to become profitable, he added.

"Broadcasters can get an estimated 27 million viewers in North America alone. We will also sell broadcasting rights in India, the Caribbean and elsewhere," Singh said.

Singh also added, "I know Viv (Richards), Richie (Richardson), Clive (Lloyd), Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo, etc..." And he plans to bring top cricketers from the West Indies to promote the Canadian Premier League.

Canada staged its first T20 national league in May 2008.

Interestingly, Canada was the first country to play a Test match way back in 1844. It was a three-day match played against the US from 25-27 September of that year at St George's Club in New York, with Canada winning by 23 runs.

However, in cricket records, the first Test match is the one between Australia and England in Melbourne in 1877.

Moreover, cricket was Canada's official sport more than 150 years ago before it was dethroned by National Hockey League (NHL). And the sport's governing body - the Canadian Cricket Association - was set up in 1892.

But cricket has staged a major comeback in the country as many first-class players from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean have moved to this country.

In 2008, the Canadian government also recognised cricket as a national sport with promises of federal funding.

Indian Premier League (IPL), Indian professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league was established in 2008. The league, which is based on a round-robin group and knockout format, has teams in major Indian cities.

With the advent of the IPL, almost overnight the world’s best cricketers—who had seldom made the kind of money earned by their counterparts in other professional sports—became millionaires. The owners of the IPL franchises, who included major companies, Bollywood film stars, and media moguls, bid for the best players in auctions organized by the league. At the outset of the IPL, the well-financed Mumbai Indians had the league’s biggest payroll, more than $100 million. It cost the Chennai Super Kings $1.5 million to secure the services of Mahendra Dhoni in the initial auction for the 2008 season and the Kolkata Knight Riders $2.4 million to sign Gautam Gambhir, the opening batsman for the Indian national team, in the bidding for the 2011 season.

The eight founding franchises were the Mumbai Indians, the Chennai Super Kings, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Deccan Chargers (based in Hyderabad), the Delhi Daredevils, the Punjab XI Kings (Mohali), the Kolkata Knight Riders, and the Rajasthan Royals (Jaipur). In late 2010 two franchises, Rajasthan and Punjab, were expelled from the league by the BCCI for breeches of ownership policy, but they were later reinstated in time for the 2011 tournament. Two new franchises, the Pune Warriors India and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, joined the IPL for the 2011 tournament. The Kochi club played just one year before the BCCI terminated its contract. In 2013 the Deccan Chargers were replaced in the IPL by the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The first tournament, held over 44 days in 2008, was won by the Rajasthan Royals, one of the smaller-market franchises, captained by Shane Warne, the great Australian bowler. In the wake of the IPL’s success, other cricketing countries scrambled to grab some of the riches by forming their own domestic T20 leagues.